


circle of inveiglers

by writerangel



Category: Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Alcohol, Angst, Cheating, Kinda, Other, Swearing, Toxic Relationships, allusions to sex, but its mainly angst, frat! tom, like lw, theres like fluff in the beg and middle, u know what it issss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-26 16:54:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30109098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writerangel/pseuds/writerangel
Summary: tom and you broke up and agreed to be friends. but now that you’re dating someone new, he doesn’t quite like that.
Relationships: Tom Holland (Actor)/Reader
Kudos: 5





	circle of inveiglers

**Author's Note:**

> this is definitely heavily inspired by “the way i loved you” by taylor swift; i’m not a swiftie ok her story telling is just really good

“You know, I used to have a personal vendetta against this movie,” you said, snuggling up against Riley. 

They looked at you inquisitively, eyebrow raised. “You had beef with _Ratatouille_?” 

Their phrasing made you laugh out loud. “That's impossible because ratatouille is vegetarian. No but, really! I had a love hate relationship with this movie.”

With a smile, “why?” 

“Because everytime I watched it, I would get hungry!” Currently, Remy and Emile were arguing over food, and your stomach made a noise in response to back up your argument.

“Well then, here.” They raised their spoon, shoveling some ice cream, and hovered it, signaling for you. Expectantly, you opened your mouth with a giggle but before anything could even reach your lips, they ran the ice cream all over your nose. 

You scrunched your face at the cold contact. “Hey!” 

Riley said,“oops,” grinning. You lunged forward to rub the sticky chocolate over their face. With your hands on each of their cheeks, you held on tight to minimize their squirming away from you. 

“No sex on the couch!” Your roommate Drew yelled, announcing a return from the party. Your other roommate Alice kicked off her shoes to the floor with a thud, while Drew shut the door behind them.

“Fuck off,” you scoffed at him, but settled back. You began wiping what was left on your nose with the palm of your hand and Riley held out a napkin for you. “Thank you,” you smiled at them.

“Wait, what time is it?” Riley asked. 

“Around 1:30.” 

Riley pulled themself off the couch. “I should prolly go.” 

“What?” You were surprised, grabbing onto their arm to get them to change their mind. 

Alice said, “no, stay!

“Yeah, we don’t bite.” Drew winked. 

They turned towards you. “You have work tomorrow. And you,” to Drew, “you can’t trick me into a haircut that easily.” 

Drew pouted. “Just a little trim?”

They shrugged,“sorry.” Riley leaned down and planted a kiss on the lips. “Bye Y/N.” They grabbed their shoulder bag and Alice opened the door to usher them out.

“You know, I used to have a personal vendetta against this movie,” you said, snuggling up against Riley. 

They looked at you inquisitively, eyebrow raised. “You had beef with _Ratatouille_?” 

Their phrasing made you laugh out loud. “That's impossible because ratatouille is vegetarian. No but, really! I had a love hate relationship with this movie.”

With a smile, “why?” 

“Because everytime I watched it, I would get hungry!” Currently, Remy and Emile were arguing over food, and your stomach made a noise in response to back up your argument.

“Well then, here.” They raised their spoon, shoveling some ice cream, and hovered it, signaling for you. Expectantly, you opened your mouth with a giggle but before anything could even reach your lips, they ran the ice cream all over your nose. 

You scrunched your face at the cold contact. “Hey!” 

Riley said,“oops,” grinning. You lunged forward to rub the sticky chocolate over their face. With your hands on each of their cheeks, you held on tight to minimize their squirming away from you. 

“No sex on the couch!” Your roommate Drew yelled, announcing a return from the party. Your other roommate Alice kicked off her shoes to the floor with a thud, while Drew shut the door behind them.

“Fuck off,” you scoffed at him, but settled back. You began wiping what was left on your nose with the palm of your hand and Riley held out a napkin for you. “Thank you,” you smiled at them.

“Wait, what time is it?” Riley asked. 

“Around 1:30.” 

Riley pulled themself off the couch. “I should prolly go.” 

“What?” You were surprised, grabbing onto their arm to get them to change their mind. 

Alice said, “no, stay!”

“Yeah, we don’t bite.” Drew winked. 

They turned towards you. “You have work tomorrow. And you,” to Drew, “you can’t trick me into a haircut that easily.” 

Drew pouted. “Just a little trim?”

They shrugged,“sorry.” Riley leaned down and planted a kiss on the lips. “Bye Y/N.” They grabbed their shoulder bag and Alice opened the door to usher them out. 

“I like them.” Alice said once Riley was gone.

You grinned, “yeah, me too. Short party.” 

Drew shrugged, walking to the kitchen.”Yeah, we missed you is all.” 

You rolled your eyes, pushing yourself up off the couch to clean up. “Shut up.”

“Okay you’re right but you know who did miss you?” He wiggled his eyebrows. “Tom.” 

Placing the bowls in the sink to get washed, you scoffed in disbelief. “What?”

Alice walked up to the counter. “Yeah! He asked about you.”

You gave her a look. “Oh did he? What’d you say?” 

“Does he know about Riley?” Drew asked.

You hesitated. “Riley isn't a secret.” 

“So he knows.” 

The two of you had a silent staredown. You were half trying to understand his reaction through intense eye contact and half waiting for the other to expose themselves first. You repeated yourself slowly. “What did you say when he asked about me?” 

Drew bit his lip. Alice cut in, chewing on some chips. “I told him you had a study date with Riley.” 

You bit your top lip trying to hold in your laugh. Your stomach definitely sank to your stomach but the entire chain of events still humored you in a way. It was just your luck for things to turn out like this, especially tonight.

“Alice!” Drew’s jaw dropped.

“What? Was I not supposed to?” Her eyes grew wide with fear. 

You shut off the water and walked over to the towel to dry your hands. Avoiding eye contact, “What’d he do after that?”

“Um, well. He choked on his drink a bit and then excused himself.” 

Under your laugh, you said an “oh my god.” 

#

It was only a matter of time before Tom ambushed you with his newfound information. You just weren’t expecting it to happen right after exiting the bathroom. After opening the door, you looked at him in unrelenting shock. “Tom.” 

“Hey.” He was dressed in your favorite outfit of his - dark red flannel paired with a white t-shirt. It was so simple but there was something about it that brought you to life. And Tom knew that. “So listen. I’m really struggling with this one class, I think the teacher has it out for me, to be honest, and I was hoping-” 

You rolled your eyes. “Cut the bullshit, Tom. Say what you wanna say.” 

He looked at your face for a minute, reading your reaction. Then he squinted his face and said, “really? Riley McPherson?” Shaking your head, you repositioned your books in your arms and walked away from him. You couldn’t believe him. Except you could. You couldn’t believe that you couldn’t believe him. He followed you, matching your pace. “I mean, come on Y/N. I know you were upset with me because of … whatever, but … Riley?” 

“What? You think this is about you? Typical Thomas fucking Holland. Everything, especially poor Y/N’s world, revolves all around you.” Gripping your books tighter, you walked faster. It wasn’t going to shrug him off but it might stop you from punching him in his perfect chiseled face. 

“It has to be! It’s the only logical explanation for this. He’s so… blegh. He’s in improv for heaven’s sake.” 

“You can’t be serious right now.”

“Huh?”

“You liked our school’s improv team! You’re the one who suggested we go. Or do you not remember that?” 

For the first time, he looked offended. “Of course I remember that. I was there.”

“You even said that you would like to be on their team.” The left side of your lip tugged upwards a little. 

Tom grabbed onto your arm, stopping you and forcing you to stand directly in front of him. He wanted you to look at him but your eyes were stuck on his hand. “Hey. If you’re gonna start spreading lies about me, can you do it much quieter? Silent, even.” You let out a laugh and your eyes landed on his, softening a bit. His voice was softer this time when he spoke again. “It’s just me and you, Y/N. You can tell me.” 

Rolling your eyes with a sigh, “why do you always get like this?” 

He grinned. “What do you mean?” 

“We were having so much fun as friends, weren’t we? I liked grabbing lunch with you and sometimes helping each other with our homework and going to different parks, guessing what each kid was going to grow up to be. There was no…” your hands shook a bit as you made a gesture with them. “It was just us, existing, with each other. But you just had to go and do your thing.” 

You weren’t exactly sure when but Tom’s face had definitely fallen while you were talking. Not that it had mattered, because he got it back just as quickly. He shook his head, gleamed, and took a step closer towards you. “You miss this.” He gestured his finger between the two of you. 

Tom had one move left before he could seal the deal. He could lightly exhale, which would be him gently blowing onto your face. There was no way to explain it, but it would simply cast you in such a trance. You saw his chest move up just the slightest and you knew you had to move. 

You stepped back on your heel away from him. “No. No, no. Riley’s good and I’m with them now. And we’re good, so.” Pivoting away from him, you walked towards the direction of the library. 

“Fine,” he called out after you. “At least come to my party this weekend. The boys miss you.” If you were going to roll your eyes one more time, they would set the record as the first ones stuck in an eye roll. Then he added, “Bring Riley.” 

#

“You’re not going, right?” Drew sat across from you on the couch, while Alice was on the floor at your feet. 

You puffed your cheeks out, blowing air. “Riley wants to.” 

“You told Riley?” Drew looked up from his computer. 

“About the party that Tom told me to bring them to? Yeah.” 

“Everything?” Alice asked. 

Nodding, “They know we’re friends. And that we used to…” you trailed off, unsure how to complete the sentence. There was no singular word to quantify the relationship you and Tom had. 

“Make each other crazy,” Alice filled in. 

You let out a nervous laugh. “We didn’t…. Tom doesn’t,” you stammered. 

“Oh please,” Drew threw a spare pen at your direction. “You can lie to Riley but don’t start lying to us.” You fell silent. “Riley really likes you.” 

“What is that supposed to mean?” 

Alice crossed her legs. “He was supposed to just be a rebound remember? You were feeling confused about everything with Tom, so we took you out to the bar, then we met Riley. But then they started coming over more often. Next thing we know, I’m friends with them, and,” pointing towards Drew, “they’re friends. And then all those times they met your brother and Riley gave him that shirt he now loves.” 

Your eyebrows furrowed. “You don’t trust me?”

“No! We do!” But her words came out so high pitched, the way her voice gets when she lies. 

“It’s Tom, we don’t trust.” 

“Yeah! The Tom when it comes to you, Tom.” 

You looked between your two best friends, reading their faces. “It’s okay! Despite everything we went through, Tom and I are just friends. We’ll always be friends. 

#

The Alpha Sig, Tom’s frat, parties always ended in some form of insanity so naturally they were a blast. You and Riley had been at the party for a good few hours or so without too much of a hiccup, to your surprise. Tom was very much around, especially when he was facilitating the shot contest, but for the most part he kept somewhat of a distance. However, when you and Riley beat Tom and his partner at beer pong, it set Tom off. He spent the rest of the night up and close with various different girls. You had spent well enough time with Tom, on both ends of his ways, to know that he was trying to make you jealous. Everytime your eyes would meet, you would roll yours at him and simply pull into Riley. 

But as the night went on and you were catching up with Tom’s frat brothers, you realized you had lost Riley in the crowd. He went to go get you drinks and Harrison, the brother you were currently talking to, was onto his third story recapping you on events you had missed when you respotted Riley. 

A little “oh no” escaped your mouth as you accidentally cut him off. “What is it?” Harrison asked, matching your apprehension, trying to follow your line of sight. You had found Riley carrying two drinks and directly in front of him stood Tom. 

“Who’s that with Tom?” 

“That’s my…” you trailed off as you looked back at Harrison. He raised his eyebrows at your hesitation. “Um… Riley.” 

He smiled coyly at you. “Oh is that what they call it now? Your Riley.” 

“Shut up.” You walked away from him and towards the two. 

He called out after you. “Say hi to your Riley for me!” 

You shook your head at him, flipping him off behind you. Suddenly you felt very embarrassed at your choice of words, or lack thereof, and the entire journey to where they were left standing you wanted to melt into a puddle. You walked up right beside Tom as he was closest and rather uneasily said, “What’s going on?” 

Tom immediately smirked upon seeing you standing beside him instead of Riley, and immediately you began to regret your decision. If Riley noticed, they didn’t act on it. Instead they simply held out your drink to you. 

“Not much really, just talking. What about you?” Tom asked. 

“Haz was just catching me up on all the _mess_ you’ve been making.” Tom’s smug behavior was pissing you off so naturally you had to undermine something he deeply cared about. Evidently, it worked as his smirk fell directly into one that was glowering. His mouth had opened and he was about to argue back at you right as a girl walking past the three of you threw a drink in your face and yelled out, “skank!” 

Of course Tom and Riley endured a good part of the backsplash, but you had to bear the brunt of it. You shut your eyes and right away could feel the stinging start to build up. While the music kept playing, the people around you reacted in various ways. There were slight screamings, gasps, people looking for the culprit that somehow got away. Harrison had walked up to you with a clean towel, Riley grabbed onto you maintaining a protective position, and Tom peered over the crowd to try and find whoever did that. Numerous people were talking over each other, asking about your well being, and the whole ordeal was incredibly overwhelming. The only thing you could manage to do was grab hold of Riley and ask them to take you out of there. Promptly they nodded, and held tight onto your hand as they guided the two of you out. 

The minute you left the frat, the cool night air hit your skin and you finally felt like you could breathe again. 

“Are you okay?” Riley asked you, squeezing your hand to reassure you he was there for you still. 

You squeezed your eyes, rubbing your face with the towel. “Yeah. I’m better now. I think I got some alcohol or whatever in my eyes though.” 

Riley guided you towards his car. You heard a car door open and he helped you into the passenger's seat. “Do you know who that was that threw the drink at you?” 

You shook your head, removing the towel from your eyes testing your sight. Everything was blurry and it stung so much so you had to shut them again. Tears tracked down your face from the pain as you said, “no. I didn’t recognize her at all.” Riley let out a small hum and the rest of the car ride was occupied with the radio playing in the background. 

Once you felt the car stop, Riley helped you out again and said, “You should take a shower like immediately. Try to get the stuff out of your eyes.” 

You nodded and let them guide you up to your apartment. As you reached the door, you handed them your key to open the door. You heard the door swing open and you both stood in the doorway. Riley waited for you. They were the first to speak. “Is everything okay?” 

You moved your face towards where you guess their voice was coming from. “Aren’t you gonna kiss me goodnight?” 

They let out a dry laugh before leaning down and kissing you. “Don’t you need more help getting in?”

You shook your head moving forward into your apartment. “I think I got it; thank you. Goodnight.” 

“Goodnight, baby.” They shut the door behind them. 

It was a mystery to you but somehow you manage to paw your way through the dark towards your bathroom. You stripped yourself of your now sticky clothes and got in the shower to wash everything off. Afterwards, you were in much better shape than before, especially with your eyes. While some blur remained, it didn’t hurt to look. 

Wrapped in your towel, you wadded your way to your room and got dressed. Then grabbing your brush and computer, you walked back out towards the living room and sat down on the couch. Brushing your hair in the dark, you did some class reading. You began to feel your eyelids grow heavy but yelling from outside your window woke you back up. Curiously, you set your computer aside and walked towards the window to see the commotion about. Opening your window let you hear the yelling a bit clearer. 

“... I’m sorry, okay! I thought that was my friend’s window but clearly it’s not.” The man on the ground below shouted up. 

“Oh, fuck off,” your neighbor yelled back. 

Squinting your eyes at him, “Tom?” 

His face widened. “See! There they are. I wasn’t making it up.” 

Your neighbor to you, “Y/N? You know this kid?” You nodded. “Well then can you please go down and deal with him already? It is two in the fucking morning and I have work tomorrow.” 

Instantly nodding, you shut your window and ran towards the door. Throwing a hoodie and jacket over your head, you slipped some shoes on and grabbed your keys before running down the stairs to deal with Tom. When he saw you exit the building, his face lit up again. 

“Y/N!” He clapped his hands together and held them out for a hug. His words were slurring slightly together and you shook your head at him. Of course he was drunk. 

Awkwardly you accepted his hug and walked forward, him following you. “What are you doing here Tom? Why are you annoying my neighbors?” 

“Well, I thought it would be romantic if I threw rocks at your window to get your attention. That way, instead of calling you, you wouldn’t be able to ignore me. But then I quickly realized that I had no clue which window was yours.” 

“Clearly.” You looked up and down the street in front of you but his blue pickup was nowhere to be found. “Did you walk here?” 

“Yeah, I think so. See when you left and…” He didn’t finish his train of thought. “And then it began to get hectic again so I was like I’m gonna go for a walk. Next thing I know, I’m outside your apartment getting into a screaming match with your neighbor.”

You looked at him, taken aback. “That’s a long walk, Tom.” He shrugged as if it was no big deal. You nodded your head in the direction of his house. “Let’s get you home, okay?” He nodded, walking forward instep with you. You noticed he moved with a shiver, so you shrugged off your jacket and put it on Tom. Normally he would reject your offer, but he accepted it fully.

Crossing your arms, you asked, “did you ever find out who that girl was? That, you know.” 

Tom inhaled. “No.” He shook his head. “I mean, yeah. That was actually meant for me.”

You scrunched your eyebrows. “She meant to call you a skank.” 

He nodded his head. “Yup. But she uh, she tripped.” 

“I mean,” you shrugged. “Makes sense.”

“Fuck off,” but he was laughing and you laughed with him.

“Did she get you?” 

“Yeah.” You looked down at his unchanged attire with not a drop of wet or sticky on it. “My good looks repelled the shot.”

“Ah, of course.” 

Just at that moment, it started raining. You tilted your head up at the sky and opened your mouth to catch the droplets. As you felt them landing on your tongue, you let out a scream of laughter. You looked back at Tom when you felt him lifting both your hoods over your heads. As he fixed your hair, he was looking at you in a certain way that made your entire face soften. 

Then he took one step back and held out his hand for your taking. “May I have this dance?”

You let out a chuckle. “Been watching a bit of _High School Musical_ , have you?” You slipped your hand in his and resumed a dancing position. 

“It’s really good.”

“I told you so.” 

It continued to rain very lightly and the two of you were dancing and laughing. To your surprise, Tom managed not to step on your toes. He guided you into a twirl and landed back into his arms, making him plant a kiss on the cheek near the outer corner of your eye. The movement caught your breath. 

“So,” he started, in order to distract you. “Did you and _your_ Riley have fun tonight?” 

His newly formed cocky smile made your face tense up into slight bitterness. Dropping his arms you began walking again. “Harrison has a big mouth,” you said through gritted teeth. 

“ _Harrison_ is just very observant and enjoys sharing his observances.” 

“It’s none of your business.” 

“I would contest otherwise, given previous circumstances.” 

Briefly, you shut your eyes. “Tom, we’re over. We have been for months.”

His words came out harsh. “That’s not fair, and you know it.” 

Somehow, you were already at the street his frat house sat on. Stopping in your tracks, you said, “Why did a girl I’ve never seen before throw a drink in my face and call me a ‘skank?’”

He huffed. “I told you; that was meant for me.” 

“Stop fucking around, Tom.” You poked him in the chest. 

“Fine! It was partially meant for you. It was meant for me. You weren’t exactly exempt, though.” 

“And why is that?” 

“Because,” he kicked his feet with a sigh looking past you. “Because I cancelled my date with her when you called.” 

“What? Why would you do that?” He laughed darkly. “And I’m guessing she wasn’t the only one.” 

“You would guess right.”

“How would she even know you cancelled for me?”

“I dunno. She prolly saw us when we would hang downtown after we, yanno.” 

You bit your inner lip to hide your embarrassment. “Oh.” 

“Look. It’s late and cold. Just come inside and spend the night. “

You shook your head. “No, I really should-”

“You are not walking home alone in the pouring rain.” To prove his point further, it started raining harder. 

Letting out a sigh, you said, “okay,” and the two of you ran inside. Tom walked towards the stairs while you walked towards the living room. “What are you doing,” he whispered at you. 

“I’m going to the couch,” you whispered back. 

He shook his head in disgust. “You don’t wanna do that. Come on,” he gestured his head up the stairs before climbing. Hesitantly, you followed. 

Removing yourselves of the wet jackets, you asked him if he had any pants you could borrow. He grabbed one of his sweats and you changed in his closet. When you entered again, you saw Tom, changed clothes, laying on the far side of his bed. “Well, where am I gonna sleep?”

“The bed.” He said it like it was obvious. 

“And you’re sleeping on the bed?”

“I’m not sleeping on the floor.” He quickly added, “and you can’t make me. I’m not gonna do anything, so just come to bed.” You nodded, and as soon as you were wrapped up in the warm sheets, you melted right to sleep. 

Tom kept his word, something he was mostly good at; he didn’t do anything. However, sleeping Tom was a different matter. You woke up with his arms wrapped around your waist, legs intertwined. You loved how familiar it felt, and that broke your heart. 

Carefully you untangled yourself from him, getting up from the bed. Luckily he didn’t wake. Changing back into your now dry clothes from yesterday, you quietly went downstairs. That was when your luck ran out. In the kitchen you were met by several of Tom’s frat brothers. They tried to hide their smirks as smiles upon your entrance, but you all knew what they were thinking. “It’s not like that,” you swiftly said. 

“Good morning to you too, Y/N,” greeted Wyatt from the stove. He was busy making pancakes and didn’t even bother to hide his grin from you. 

“Shove off.” Turning to Harrison, you said, “are you about to leave?” 

Grabbing his keys, “yeah. Why?”

“Could you drop me off at my apartment?” He nodded, and the two of you left the kitchen. The other boys shouted out goodbyes but you ignored them. Harrison opened the door and you looked to your right, eyes meeting with Tom right before you exited the house. 

To your pleasure, the car ride was quiet, with the exception of his radio playing. His car slowed to a stop in front of your apartment complex and you felt obligated to say something. “It really wasn’t like that.” 

A hint of a smile ghosted upon his lips. “Don’t worry. I’m not even friends with your Riley.” 

Your hands rubbed your eyes. “I need you to know it wasn’t like that. Nothing happened, not in that way.” 

“I heard you the first time.” He was still smiling. 

You accepted defeat that that was the most you were going to be able to get through to him. You left Harrison's car with a swift thank you and walked towards the building. 

#

The rest of the week felt off for you. It was impossible to get the events of that night out of your head and you couldn’t stop hearing Tom’s words. Of “trying to be romantic” and “your Riley” and “previous circumstances.” And don’t forget the dancing in the rain. Even if you wanted to, you couldn’t. You felt double as guilty when Riley asked you a question just as you were thinking about how it felt to have Tom’s arms around yours. 

You shook your head to clear your thoughts. “Sorry, what?”

They chuckled. “I said, are you gonna eat that?” 

With a look down at what was left on your plate, you said, “no. Can I ask you something?” 

“Sure,” they said as they switched your plates. 

“If someone came up to you and asked you who I am, what would you say?”

“You’re Y/N.”

“No, I know but.” You repeated the words with more emphasis. “If _someone_ asked _who_ I am…” 

“Oh! You’re who I’m with. We’re together.” 

You picked at your lower lip. “Right, no yeah. Of course. “ If you were alone, you would scream a string of obscenities out loud. 

#

It just so happened to be that when you were home alone, Tom managed to stop by. You opened the door to his figure and he was holding out your jacket to you. “You left this,” he said. You stepped aside to let him in, taking the jacket from his fingers. 

“Oh, thank you. It’s um,” you looked down at it with a small smile. “It’s yours actually.” He tilted his head to the side, eyes looking at you wistfully. “What?” you asked. 

“Nothing,” he shook his head.

Setting down the jacket on the couch, you asked, “do you want something to drink?” 

“No, thank you.” He rocked back and forth on his heels quietly. 

“Tom,” you started before he cut you off. 

He looked up from his feet and saw you frowning. “Don’t.” 

“Tom…” Your shoulders slouched forward as you reached for him.

“Are we really gonna do this now?” He bared his teeth.

“Yeah, we’re gonna do this now.” 

Tom held the side of his face with a “Jesus.” 

“Why did you say all that stuff?” Your arms were flying about frantically. “Why did you say ‘to be romantic’ and why’d you cancel on all those girls and why didn’t you tell me?” 

“Just drop it,” he was begging you, face stone cold. 

“After how rude you’ve been with Riley, you owe me this.” 

“Because I’m in love with you!” He yelled out, stepping forward.

You stumbled back against a chair. “What?” 

“Yeah,” he let out softer this time, stepping back. He rubbed his hands up and down his legs. “I’m in love with you and I have been for a long time now.” 

“Even when we were dating?” He nodded. “But, wh-why didn’t you say anything?”

He shrugged, stretching his hands over his head. “I was scared so I waited for the right time but then you wanted to break up. I’ve never… before and it just never felt like there was a right time. Then you kept calling, so I thought you knew and this was just our new arrangement. I would cancel for you and you would cancel for me. Next thing I know, I’m hearing about this new _douche_ Riley, and not even from you.” 

“Hey,” you defended. 

“What do they got that I don’t have?”

You couldn’t help the scoff that left your mouth. “Where do I begin? They’re sensible, tell me what I need to hear, open doors for me, and I’m just overall content.”

“All I’m hearing is boring, tells you what you _want_ to hear, time waster, oh and what was that? Boring; you’re bored.”

You were left baffled. “Th-that that is _not_ true.” 

“ _I_ tell you what you need to hear. Why do you think we fight so much?” 

You gave him a sardonic smile. “Okay. But Riley is never late, and all of my family likes them. My friends have never had a problem with them, which is much more than you can say, and I’m-” 

Tom cut you off. “Comfortable? You know in a relationship that can also mean that you’re bored right. Is that all you got?”

“Riley is the best thing I could ever ask for.”

Tom marched towards you. “Except that’s not true! I can be romantic. Throwing rocks at your window-” 

“You didn’t even get my window.” 

“That’s not the point. Dancing in the rain, that’s romantic. Spontaneous dates, that’s romantic. You know I’m good for my word. So we fight, occasionally. Call it passion.” Tom’s nose was inches away from yours. 

“You- You don’t get. You don’t get to-” You let out a groan of frustration as you struggled to find the right words to say. “You’re just saying all this because you’re jealous of Riley.”

“Of course I’m jealous; I love you!” 

You let out a shout directly in his face, except you could help but smile. He was right. You may have argued a whole lot but it was filled with passion. Your heart beat increased hearing those words again. Tom shouted back in your face, matching your reaction. Your face lifted in surprise. Maybe everyone was right; maybe you did make each other go crazy. He began to inhale. “Stop it,” you shoved him in the chest to walk past him. 

He grabbed hold of your arms, spinning you around. Landing into his embrace, he kissed you. You let a gasp against his lips, but that just let him kiss you deeper. Once he lifted a hand to the back of your neck, you were a goner. He pushed you back against the wall, and you ran your hands down his chest to reach under his shirt, feeling his stomach. Tom moaned against you lightly. He moved his kisses from your lips to your cheek and then down your neck. At this opportunity, your eyes fluttered open. Your eyelids hung heavy in a daze as they landed on the leftover Chipotle bag Riley had bought you for lunch. 

You could feel Tom making his way back up. Unfortunately for Tom, he simply wasn’t fast enough. Your eyes opened suddenly very aware of everything. Riley. Taking your hands out from under his shirt, you pushed him on his chest. 

“Stop. Stop stop stop.” He looked up at you concerned, and you said, “Riley.” 

Groaning, he ran a hand through his hair. “Oh come on! It’s not cheating if you can’t put on a label on it.” 

Your mouth fell open. “They said we’re together.” 

“And you called them ‘your Riley.’” He put air quotes around the words. “Not my fault if you can’t communicate.” He moved closer to you but you ducked his arms. 

“‘Can’t communicate?’ You’re the one that ‘can’t communicate!’ You don’t tell me you’re in love with me until I’m with someone new. Look, okay. You made some really good points. Of course I loved 2 am ice cream drives and kissing in the rain. And yes, most of the time we were fighting it was driven by a lot of passion. Sometimes, I couldn’t tell if I wanted to kill you or kiss you. But after the fights and before the makeups, I’d be really fucking sad. With Riley, there’s none of that.” 

“Well,” he ran his hands down your arms. “Maybe that’s the way I love you.” 

“Then that’s the way I loved you.” 

He leaned back in hurt and mouth the word “loved?” All you could do was bite down on your lip, hard. “So that’s it.” The tension left your body. Tom looked away from you but you could still see the tears falling down. He let go of you and walked to the door. Holding it open, he said, “keep the jacket.” 

Tom slammed the door shut and you sank to the floor. Letting go of your lip, it began bleeding and the tears finally fell. You may be able to get rid of the boy but you can’t get rid of his behaviorisms you adopted. That included lying for his benefit. 


End file.
